Politics and Culture

December 19, 2011

Field guidance no more

Of the many losses, perhaps the hardest to bear will be the end of those field guidance articles in the Pyongyang Times. Here, published on the 16th (Friday), is the last recorded visit the Dear Leader made:

Kim Jong Il, general secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea and chairman of the DPRK National Defence Commission, provided field guidance to the Kwangbok Area Supermarket just beforeopening....

Going round the counters on three floors, Kim Jong Il learned in detail about the varieties of goods, state of display and sales plan, and expressed great satisfaction over the successful renovation of the commercial service centre to be conducive to improving the people’s standard of living.

He set forth tasks facing the supermarket in its service.

The essence of the socialist commerce is to orientate all its activities, from beginning to end, to serving the people, he said, adding that the goods urgently required by the people should be sold timely so as to provide convenience for their living.

He expressed his expectation and belief that all the service workers of the supermarket would bring about a decisive turn in their activities by giving full play to the spirit of devoted service for the people.

And here's the last picture...his final testimony:

Looking at toilet rolls.

The thing about the Dear Leader is that there was something inherently ludicrous about him, as Team America, and this site, knew. Tubby, short, with those sunglasses and the inevitable anorak, it'd be difficult to come up with anyone with less personal charisma. Which is why the mass weeping is so grotesque, so pathetic. Is it possible to feel embarrassed for one's species?

The field guidance will continue, no doubt, but it won't be fun any more. The magic's gone. Kim Jong Un, unlike his dad, really does look the part of a tyrant.

Mick - has the time you've spent observing the ways of the Dear Departed Leader given you insights into his partiality for the anorak? Despots rarely dress like trainspotters (no disrespect to trainspotters) - they usually prefer blingy uniforms of their own design. Also, more recent photos suggest that, whereas the DDL used to be the only man to sport one, thus suggesting a unique status, they have become a must-have for the top brass - all with the rather delicate lilac lining, suggesting they're all part of the same batch.

It will be interesting to see if the Dear Successor emulates his dad's ideas, or goes for something more distinctive and sinister, in line with his general appearance.

it would be interesting to ask a collection of Guardian types which of the three famous people who died in the last few days they least disliked. It couldn't be Hitchens given that he committed the ultimate 21st century crime of supporting the overthrow of Saddam Hussain, and it couldn't be Havel for the same reason and for his persistent badmouthing of Stalinism. So it would have to be Kim. Presiding over a police state which starves its people is a minor indiscetion compared with the crimes of the other two.

No real insights into the anorak, Richard. I suppose for a man of the people the dictators-R-Us clobber beloved of Gaddafi would be out of the question. But yes, it's funny how gradually all the top brass came to adopt the same jacket. There's probably a thesis in there somewhere: "Songun Style: the Iconography of the Anorak in the DPRK".